Considering that penny stocks are any shares that trade for less than $5, there are plenty of penny stocks on many of the major exchanges like the NYSE and the NASDAQ. There are even a few which trade for less than one dollar but still trade on these "big-board" markets. However, you will typically find most penny stocks trading at the following locations:
But this isn’t your typical market, and you can’t show up and pick your shares off a shelf the way you select produce at the grocery store. Individual traders are typically represented by brokers — these days, that’s often an online broker. You place your stock trades through the broker, which then deals with the exchange on your behalf. (Need a broker? See our analysis of the best stockbrokers for beginners.)
Building a diversified portfolio is the priority for beginners who should consider adding index funds that capture the broader market, Swope says. Mutual funds and ETFs are the easiest solutions since they own hundreds to thousands of stocks and are less volatile than individual stocks. ETFs tend to have low minimums, allowing investors to spread their first $10,000 between a few funds and gain access to a variety of areas in the market, he says.
The biggest obstacle to stock market profits is an inability to control one’s emotions and make logical decisions. In the short-term, the prices of companies reflect the combined emotions of the entire investment community. When a majority of investors are worried about a company, its stock price is likely to decline; when a majority feel positive about the company’s future, its stock price tends to rise.
In most cases, your broker will charge a commission every time that you trade stock, either through buying or selling. Trading fees range from the low end of $2 per trade but can be as high as $10 for some discount brokers. Some brokers charge no trade commissions at all, but they make up for it in other ways. There are no charitable organizations running brokerage services.
If investing in single stocks may be too risky for you, consider investing in good growth stock mutual funds. Mutual funds are a simple, even boring, investment plan, yet they work well for most people. Of course, all investing requires a degree of risk; there really is no sure thing. But mutual funds are a great balance of reasonable risk and excellent returns. They have built-in diversification that will keep you from putting all your eggs in one basket.

Combat fear – Yesterday was a bad day, you lost over $1,500 and the fear is now kicking in, you’re being hesitant. That hesitation will cost you money, and as we mentioned above, you should embrace losses. When your confidence has had a knock, a useful tip is to remind yourself to stick religiously to your risk rules. If you have an effective risk management strategy you’ll never lose more than you can afford.

In the professional world, one of the key concepts is diversification. Harry Markowitz is a Nobel prize winning economist and one of his major discoveries was that adding new asset classes can dramatically alter the overall risk profile of a portfolio. His finding was that a portfolio that contained very low risk assets would normally benefit from lower volatility and higher returns if a higher risk asset was added. This is due to the likely lack of correlation between high and low risk asset classes.
Some scammers will buy up a ton of some near-bankrupt, almost lifeless penny stock, then use lies and exaggerations to push the share price much higher. They might say the company is about to get some huge business deal with Google or their neighbor just struck gold in their similar mine, or they are going to land a major FDA clearance. That typically helps increase the value of the penny stock, which creates a profit for the promoter or scam artist. As the shares increase in value, they sell their holdings. These shares usually collapse back down to near-worthless status once the promoter has taken their profits and moved on.

Rarely is short-term noise (blaring headlines, temporary price fluctuations) relevant to how a well-chosen company performs over the long term. It’s how investors react to the noise that really matters. Here’s where that rational voice from calmer times — your investing journal — can serve as a guide to sticking it out during the inevitable ups and downs that come with investing in stocks.